Chapter 5
1150 Words
Aria’s POV:
It had been a few weeks since the night Kellan and I finally crossed that line—the one we’d both been skirting around like cowards. Weeks since he held me close and whispered quiet promises into my hair. Promises he never said out loud again, but I still felt them. In every look, every lingering touch. He wrapped himself around me like armor. Not just to protect me, but to keep the memories at bay. The ones I didn’t talk about. The ones buried deep under this place.
And somehow, in those weeks, Haven Hollow had become both my refuge and the place where I started to unravel.
Kellan never brought up what happened that night. Not directly. But things changed. Subtly at first. The way his fingers brushed mine and stayed a second too long. The way his eyes followed me, searching my face like he was trying to decide if I’d let him all the way in—or run the second the past got too close.
He started staying later. Dinners with me and Luca became a quiet ritual. His smile was softer then, rare but real. And sometimes, after Luca fell asleep beside me on the couch, Kellan wouldn’t leave. He’d lie down next to me, his head in my lap, his eyes closed like he could finally exhale. I’d run my fingers through his hair. Neither of us said a word. And in those small, fragile moments, I let myself believe. Maybe we were safe.
But deep down, I knew better.
Because even in moments that felt safe, I felt watched.
At first, I brushed it off as paranoia. The footsteps behind me on trails that disappeared when I turned. Shapes in the woods that melted into trees. Just flickers in my peripheral. But the air felt different and heavy. Like something was waiting.
And then I saw them—tracks by the northern brook. Big ones. Deep. Not ours.
I grew up around predators. I know what it feels like when you’re being hunted.
Still, I didn’t say anything.
Not until Mira showed up at my door one morning, her face pale and serious, her hands tight around a steaming mug. “Three of our scouts picked up strange scents near the east perimeter,” she said. “Not any of ours. Too many unknowns. The wards haven’t broken, but…”
“But it’s still something,” I finished for her, my stomach sinking.
That word still hung between us like a storm cloud.
Because the wards around Haven Hollow were ancient—built by seers and sealed with moonlight. Meant to keep us safe. And yet...
I could still hear Darius’s voice in my head, low and cruel, whispering, “There’s nowhere you can go that I won’t find you.” He swore nothing would keep him from what was his. He’d burn everything down if he had to.
And if there’s one thing I know about Alpha Darius Blackthorn—it’s that his desperation has no limits.
Especially when it comes to control.
Especially when it comes to me.
I kept it all from Luca, tried to keep our little world normal. But kids, they feel things. He started waking up in the night, crawling into my bed, whispering about wolves with red eyes outside his window. At first, I told him they were just dreams. Just shadows.
But he could hear the shake in my voice. Eventually, I stopped lying.
Because I knew.
Darius was coming.
I could feel it deep inside me. A warning in my bones. The mate mark he forced on me—the one I tried so hard to erase, to forget—was starting to stir again. Most days it felt numb. But lately it burned. Lit up my spine like fire. A brand I never wanted. A bond he never accepted.
And monsters like him never forget what they think they own.
Kellan didn’t say anything either, but I saw the shift in him. He was always nearby. Patrols doubled. He barely left my side. Every time he looked at Luca, or brushed his hand against mine, there was a question hiding behind his eyes.
But he didn’t ask.
Not yet.
Instead, he stayed. And with him came this quiet strength—like if he was there, maybe things wouldn’t fall apart again.
But even he couldn’t stop what was already moving.
And the truth? I wasn’t scared for myself.
I’d survived Darius once. I knew what he was. I knew what he’d do.
But Luca,
He didn’t know about Luca. About the blood they shared. And if he ever found out? He wouldn’t just come for me. He’d come for him. To claim what he believed was his. A child born of shadows and secrets. Born from pain, and love, and my desperate need to be free.
And if Darius took him—everything would be lost.
It happened on a warm evening, just before twilight.
The sky was painted in lavender and rose. I was outside with Luca, watching him help Mira clip herbs in her garden. He was laughing—pure and free. The kind of sound I hadn’t heard in years. It was like sunlight breaking through a storm.
Kellan stood beside me, arms crossed, scanning the woods. His body shifted, tensed. Like something invisible snapped into focus.
The wind changed.
He raised his head, nostrils flaring. Then came the low growl, rumbling from his chest. He grabbed the communicator on his belt, speaking fast.
“What is it?” I asked, already feeling sick.
His face was hard. “Northern boundary. The wards. Something got through.”
My heart stopped. “Are you sure?”
He nodded grimly. “I can smell them. Wolves. A full unit. And they’re not ours.”
I didn’t wait. I grabbed Luca and pulled him close. He blinked up at me, confused by my urgency.
“Inside. Now,” I snapped. I didn’t mean to sound so harsh.
Luca flinched, but he obeyed.
“Wait—Aria—” Kellan reached for me, but I stopped in my tracks.
Because I saw them.
Shadows moving through the trees. Silent and predatory.
They shifted as they approached, turning from wolves into men—calm, precise, like they had all the time in the world. Dressed in black. Eyes blank and cold.
Blackthorn wolves.
And at the center of them… him.
Darius.
Time seemed to stop.
He hadn’t changed. Still tall. Still terrifying. Still wearing that arrogance like a crown. The cruel curve of his lips. The way his eyes scanned the land like it already belonged to him.
And then… his gaze found mine.
And dipped—slowly, deliberately—to Luca, who was standing just behind my legs, his little hand clutching the back of my coat.
And then Darius smiled.
- Writer
